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Chapter 19

At Jacob's Well

[This chapter is based on John 4:1-42.]

On the way to Galilee Jesus passed through Samaria. It was noon
when He reached the beautiful Vale of Shechem. At the opening
of this valley was Jacob's well. Wearied with His journey, He sat
down here to rest while His disciples went to buy food.

The Jews and the Samaritans were bitter enemies, and as far as possible
avoided all dealing with each other. To trade with the Samaritans
in case of necessity was indeed counted lawful by the rabbis; but all social
intercourse with them was condemned. A Jew would not borrow from
a Samaritan, nor receive a kindness, not even a morsel of bread or a cup
of water. The disciples, in buying food, were acting in harmony with
the custom of their nation. But beyond this they did not go. To ask a
favor of the Samaritans, or in any way seek to benefit them, did not enter
into the thought of even Christ's disciples.

As Jesus sat by the well side, He was faint from hunger and thirst.
The journey since morning had been long, and now the sun of noontide
beat upon Him. His thirst was increased by the thought of the cool,
refreshing water so near, yet inaccessible to Him; for He had no rope
nor water jar, and the well was deep. The lot of humanity was His,
and He waited for someone to come to draw.

A woman of Samaria approached, and seeming unconscious of His
presence, filled her pitcher with water. As she turned to go away,
Jesus asked her for a drink. Such a favor no Oriental would withhold.
In the East, water was called "the gift of God." To offer a drink to
the thirsty traveler was held to be a duty so sacred that the Arabs of

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the desert would go out of their way in order to perform it. The hatred
between Jews and Samaritans prevented the woman from offering a
kindness to Jesus; but the Saviour was seeking to find the key to this
heart, and with the tact born of divine love, He asked, not offered, a
favor. The offer of a kindness might have been rejected; but trust
awakens trust. The King of heaven came to this outcast soul, asking a
service at her hands. He who made the ocean, who controls the waters
of the great deep, who opened the springs and channels of the earth,
rested from His weariness at Jacob's well, and was dependent upon a
stranger's kindness for even the gift of a drink of water.

The woman saw that Jesus was a Jew. In her surprise she forgot
to grant His request, but tried to learn the reason for it. "How is it,"
she said, "that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a
woman of Samaria?"

Jesus answered, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that
saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and
He would have given thee living water." You wonder that I should ask
of you even so small a favor as a draught of water from the well at
our feet. Had you asked of Me, I would have given you to drink of
the water of everlasting life.

The woman had not comprehended the words of Christ, but she felt
their solemn import. Her light, bantering manner began to change. Supposing
that Jesus spoke of the well before them, she said, "Sir, Thou hast
nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast Thou
that living water? Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave
us the well, and drank thereof himself?" She saw before her only a
thirsty traveler, wayworn and dusty. In her mind she compared Him
with the honored patriarch Jacob. She cherished the feeling, which is so
natural, that no other well could be equal to that provided by the fathers.
She was looking backward to the fathers, forward to the Messiah's coming,
while the Hope of the fathers, the Messiah Himself, was beside her,
and she knew Him not. How many thirsting souls are today close by the
living fountain, yet looking far away for the wellsprings of life! "Say
not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring
Christ down from above:) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that
is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) . . . The word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: . . . if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Rom. 10:6-9.

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Jesus did not immediately answer the question in regard to Himself,
but with solemn earnestness He said, "Whosoever drinketh of this water
shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him
a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

He who seeks to quench his thirst at the fountains of this world
will drink only to thirst again. Everywhere men are unsatisfied. They
long for something to supply the need of the soul. Only One can meet
that want. The need of the world, "The Desire of all nations," is Christ.
The divine grace which He alone can impart, is as living water, purifying,
refreshing, and invigorating the soul.

Jesus did not convey the idea that merely one draft of the water
of life would suffice the receiver. He who tastes of the love of Christ
will continually long for more; but he seeks for nothing else. The riches,
honors, and pleasures of the world do not attract him. The constant
cry of his heart is, More of Thee. And He who reveals to the soul
its necessity is waiting to satisfy its hunger and thirst. Every human
resource and dependence will fail. The cisterns will be emptied, the
pools become dry; but our Redeemer is an inexhaustible fountain. We
may drink, and drink again, and ever find a fresh supply. He in whom
Christ dwells has within himself the fountain of blessing,--"a well of
water springing up into everlasting life." From this source he may draw
strength and grace sufficient for all his needs.

As Jesus spoke of the living water, the woman looked upon Him
with wondering attention. He had aroused her interest, and awakened
a desire for the gift of which He spoke. She perceived that it was not
the water of Jacob's well to which He referred; for of this she used
continually, drinking, and thirsting again. "Sir," she said, "give me this
water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw."

Jesus now abruptly turned the conversation. Before this soul could
receive the gift He longed to bestow, she must be brought to recognize
her sin and her Saviour. He "saith unto her, Go, call thy husband,
and come hither." She answered, "I have no husband." Thus she hoped
to prevent all questioning in that direction. But the Saviour continued,
"Thou hast well said, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands;
and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly."

The listener trembled. A mysterious hand was turning the pages of
her life history, bringing to view that which she had hoped to keep forever

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hidden. Who was He that could read the secrets of her life? There
came to her thoughts of eternity, of the future Judgment, when all that
is now hidden shall be revealed. In its light, conscience was awakened.

She could deny nothing; but she tried to evade all mention of a
subject so unwelcome. With deep reverence, she said, "Sir, I perceive
that Thou art a prophet." Then, hoping to silence conviction, she turned
to points of religious controversy. If this was a prophet, surely He could
give her instruction concerning these matters that had been so long
disputed.

Patiently Jesus permitted her to lead the conversation whither she
would. Meanwhile He watched for the opportunity of again bringing the
truth home to her heart. "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain,"
she said, "and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to
worship." Just in sight was Mount Gerizim. Its temple was demolished,
and only the altar remained. The place of worship had been a subject of
contention between the Jews and the Samaritans. Some of the ancestors of
the latter people had once belonged to Israel; but because of their
sins, the Lord suffered them to be overcome by an idolatrous nation.
For many generations they were intermingled with idolaters, whose
religion gradually contaminated their own. It is true they held that
their idols were only to remind them of the living God, the Ruler of
the universe; nevertheless the people were led to reverence their graven
images.

When the temple at Jerusalem was rebuilt in the days of Ezra, the
Samaritans wished to join the Jews in its erection. This privilege was
refused them, and a bitter animosity sprang up between the two peoples.
The Samaritans built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim. Here they
worshiped in accordance with the Mosaic ritual, though they did not
wholly renounce idolatry. But disasters attended them, their temple was
destroyed by their enemies, and they seemed to be under a curse; yet
they still clung to their traditions and their forms of worship. They
would not acknowledge the temple at Jerusalem as the house of God,
nor admit that the religion of the Jews was superior to their own.

In answer to the woman, Jesus said, "Believe Me, the hour cometh,
when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship:
for salvation is of the Jews." Jesus had shown that He was free from
Jewish prejudice against the Samaritans. Now He sought to break down

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the prejudice of this Samaritan against the Jews. While referring to the
fact that the faith of the Samaritans was corrupted with idolatry, He
declared that the great truths of redemption had been committed to the
Jews, and that from among them the Messiah was to appear. In the
Sacred Writings they had a clear presentation of the character of God and
the principles of His government. Jesus classed Himself with the Jews
as those to whom God had given a knowledge of Himself.

He desired to lift the thoughts of His hearer above matters of form
and ceremony, and questions of controversy. "The hour cometh," He
said, "and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in
spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God
is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
and in truth."

Here is declared the same truth that Jesus had revealed to Nicodemus
when He said, "Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the
kingdom of God." John 3:3, margin. Not by seeking a holy mountain
or a sacred temple are men brought into communion with heaven.
Religion is not to be confined to external forms and ceremonies. The
religion that comes from God is the only religion that will lead to God.
In order to serve Him aright, we must be born of the divine Spirit.
This will purify the heart and renew the mind, giving us a new capacity
for knowing and loving God. It will give us a willing obedience to
all His requirements. This is true worship. It is the fruit of the working
of the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit every sincere prayer is indited, and
such prayer is acceptable to God. Wherever a soul reaches out after
God, there the Spirit's working is manifest, and God will reveal Himself
to that soul. For such worshipers He is seeking. He waits to receive
them, and to make them His sons and daughters.

As the woman talked with Jesus, she was impressed with His words.
Never had she heard such sentiments from the priests of her own people
or from the Jews. As the past of her life had been spread out before
her, she had been made sensible of her great want. She realized her
soul thirst, which the waters of the well of Sychar could never satisfy.
Nothing that had hitherto come in contact with her had so awakened her
to a higher need. Jesus had convinced her that He read the secrets of
her life; yet she felt that He was her friend, pitying and loving her.
While the very purity of His presence condemned her sin, He had spoken
no word of denunciation, but had told her of His grace, that could renew

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the soul. She began to have some conviction of His character. The
question arose in her mind, Might not this be the long-looked-for
Messiah? She said to Him, "I know that Messias cometh, which is
called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things." Jesus
answered, "I that speak unto thee am He."

As the woman heard these words, faith sprang up in her heart. She
accepted the wonderful announcement from the lips of the divine Teacher.

This woman was in an appreciative state of mind. She was ready
to receive the noblest revelation; for she was interested in the Scriptures,
and the Holy Spirit had been preparing her mind to receive more light.
She had studied the Old Testament promise, "The Lord thy God will
raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken." Deut. 18:15. She longed
to understand this prophecy. Light was already flashing into her mind.
The water of life, the spiritual life which Christ gives to every thirsty
soul, had begun to spring up in her heart. The Spirit of the Lord was
working with her.

The plain statement made by Christ to this woman could not have
been made to the self-righteous Jews. Christ was far more reserved
when He spoke to them. That which had been withheld from the
Jews, and which the disciples were afterward enjoined to keep secret,
was revealed to her. Jesus saw that she would make use of her knowledge
in bringing others to share His grace.

When the disciples returned from their errand, they were surprised
to find their Master speaking with the woman. He had not taken
the refreshing draught that He desired, and He did not stop to eat the
food His disciples had brought. When the woman had gone, the
disciples entreated Him to eat. They saw Him silent, absorbed, as in
rapt meditation. His face was beaming with light, and they feared to
interrupt His communion with heaven. But they knew that He was
faint and weary, and thought it their duty to remind Him of His physical
necessities. Jesus recognized their loving interest, and He said, "I have
meat to eat that ye know not of."

The disciples wondered who could have brought Him food; but He
explained, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to accomplish
His work." John 4:34, R. V. As His words to the woman had
aroused her conscience, Jesus rejoiced. He saw her drinking of the water

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of life, and His own hunger and thirst were satisfied. The accomplishment
of the mission which He had left heaven to perform strengthened
the Saviour for His labor, and lifted Him above the necessities of humanity.
To minister to a soul hungering and thirsting for the truth was
more grateful to Him than eating or drinking. It was a comfort, a refreshment,
to Him. Benevolence was the life of His soul.

Our Redeemer thirsts for recognition. He hungers for the sympathy
and love of those whom He has purchased with His own blood. He
longs with inexpressible desire that they should come to Him and have
life. As the mother watches for the smile of recognition from her little
child, which tells of the dawning of intelligence, so does Christ watch for
the expression of grateful love, which shows that spiritual life is begun
in the soul.

The woman had been filled with joy as she listened to Christ's words.
The wonderful revelation was almost overpowering. Leaving her waterpot,
she returned to the city, to carry the message to others. Jesus knew
why she had gone. Leaving her waterpot spoke unmistakably as to the
effect of His words. It was the earnest desire of her soul to obtain
the living water; and she forgot her errand to the well, she forgot the
Saviour's thirst, which she had purposed to supply. With heart overflowing
with gladness, she hastened on her way, to impart to others
the precious light she had received.

"Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did," she
said to the men of the city. "Is not this the Christ?" Her words
touched their hearts. There was a new expression on her face, a change
in her whole appearance. They were interested to see Jesus. "Then
they went out of the city, and came unto Him."

As Jesus still sat at the well side, He looked over the fields of grain
that were spread out before Him, their tender green touched by the
golden sunlight. Pointing His disciples to the scene, He employed
it as a symbol: "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh
harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the
fields; for they are white already to harvest." And as He spoke, He
looked on the groups that were coming to the well. It was four months
to the time for harvesting the grain, but here was a harvest ready for
the reaper.

"He that reapeth," He said, "receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit
unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice

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together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another
reapeth." Here Christ points out the sacred service owed to God by those
who receive the gospel. They are to be His living agencies. He requires
their individual service. And whether we sow or reap, we are working
for God. One scatters the seed; another gathers in the harvest; and
both the sower and the reaper receive wages. They rejoice together
in the reward of their labor.

Jesus said to the disciples, "I sent you to reap that whereon ye
bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their
labors." The Saviour was here looking forward to the great ingathering
on the day of Pentecost. The disciples were not to regard this as the
result of their own efforts. They were entering into other men's labors.
Ever since the fall of Adam Christ had been committing the seed of the
word to His chosen servants, to be sown in human hearts. And an unseen
agency, even an omnipotent power, had worked silently but effectually
to produce the harvest. The dew and rain and sunshine of God's grace
had been given, to refresh and nourish the seed of truth. Christ was
about to water the seed with His own blood. His disciples were privileged
to be laborers together with God. They were coworkers with
Christ and with the holy men of old. By the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost, thousands were to be converted in a day. This was
the result of Christ's sowing, the harvest of His work.

In the words spoken to the woman at the well, good seed had been
sown, and how quickly the harvest was received. The Samaritans came
and heard Jesus, and believed on Him. Crowding about Him at the
well, they plied Him with questions, and eagerly received His explanations
of many things that had been obscure to them. As they listened,
their perplexity began to clear away. They were like a people in great
darkness tracing up a sudden ray of light till they had found the day. But
they were not satisfied with this short conference. They were anxious to
hear more, and to have their friends also listen to this wonderful teacher.
They invited Him to their city, and begged Him to remain with them.
For two days He tarried in Samaria, and many more believed on Him.

The Pharisees despised the simplicity of Jesus. They ignored His
miracles, and demanded a sign that He was the Son of God. But the
Samaritans asked no sign, and Jesus performed no miracles among
them, save in revealing the secrets of her life to the woman at the well.
Yet many received Him. In their new joy they said to the woman,

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"Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him
ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of
the world."

The Samaritans believed that the Messiah was to come as the Redeemer,
not only of the Jews, but of the world. The Holy Spirit
through Moses had foretold Him as a prophet sent from God. Through
Jacob it had been declared that unto Him should the gathering of the
people be; and through Abraham, that in Him all the nations of
the earth should be blessed. On these scriptures the people of Samaria
based their faith in the Messiah. The fact that the Jews had misinterpreted
the later prophets, attributing to the first advent the glory of
Christ's second coming, had led the Samaritans to discard all the sacred
writings except those given through Moses. But as the Saviour swept
away these false interpretations, many accepted the later prophecies and
the words of Christ Himself in regard to the kingdom of God.

Jesus had begun to break down the partition wall between Jew and
Gentile, and to preach salvation to the world. Though He was a Jew,
He mingled freely with the Samaritans, setting at nought the Pharisaic
customs of His nation. In face of their prejudices He accepted the
hospitality of this despised people. He slept under their roofs, ate with
them at their tables,--partaking of the food prepared and served by
their hands,--taught in their streets, and treated them with the utmost
kindness and courtesy.

In the temple at Jerusalem a low wall separated the outer court from
all other portions of the sacred building. Upon this wall were inscriptions
in different languages, stating that none but Jews were allowed to pass
this boundary. Had a Gentile presumed to enter the inner enclosure, he
would have desecrated the temple, and would have paid the penalty with
his life. But Jesus, the originator of the temple and its service, drew the
Gentiles to Him by the tie of human sympathy, while His divine grace
brought to them the salvation which the Jews rejected.

The stay of Jesus in Samaria was designed to be a blessing to His
disciples, who were still under the influence of Jewish bigotry. They felt
that loyalty to their own nation required them to cherish enmity toward
the Samaritans. They wondered at the conduct of Jesus. They could
not refuse to follow His example, and during the two days in Samaria,
fidelity to Him kept their prejudices under control; yet in heart they
were unreconciled. They were slow to learn that their contempt and

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hatred must give place to pity and sympathy. But after the Lord's
ascension, His lessons came back to them with a new meaning. After
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, they recalled the Saviour's look, His
words, the respect and tenderness of His bearing toward these despised
strangers. When Peter went to preach in Samaria, he brought the same
spirit into his own work. When John was called to Ephesus and Smyrna,
he remembered the experience at Shechem, and was filled with gratitude
to the divine Teacher, who, foreseeing the difficulties they must meet, had
given them help in His own example.

The Saviour is still carrying forward the same work as when He
proffered the water of life to the woman of Samaria. Those who call
themselves His followers may despise and shun the outcast ones; but
no circumstance of birth or nationality, no condition of life, can turn
away His love from the children of men. To every soul, however
sinful, Jesus says, If thou hadst asked of Me, I would have given thee
living water.

The gospel invitation is not to be narrowed down, and presented only
to a select few, who, we suppose, will do us honor if they accept it. The
message is to be given to all. Wherever hearts are open to receive the
truth, Christ is ready to instruct them. He reveals to them the Father,
and the worship acceptable to Him who reads the heart. For such He
uses no parables. To them, as to the woman at the well, He says,
"I that speak unto thee am He."

When Jesus sat down to rest at Jacob's well, He had come from
Judea, where His ministry had produced little fruit. He had been rejected
by the priests and rabbis, and even the people who professed to be His
disciples had failed of perceiving His divine character. He was faint
and weary; yet He did not neglect the opportunity of speaking to one
woman, though she was a stranger, an alien from Israel, and living in
open sin.

The Saviour did not wait for congregations to assemble. Often He
began His lessons with only a few gathered about Him, but one by one
the passers-by paused to listen, until a multitude heard with wonder and
awe the words of God through the heaven-sent Teacher. The worker
for Christ should not feel that he cannot speak with the same earnestness
to a few hearers as to a larger company. There may be only one to hear
the message; but who can tell how far-reaching will be its influence?
It seemed a small matter, even to His disciples, for the Saviour to spend

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His time upon a woman of Samaria. But He reasoned more earnestly
and eloquently with her than with kings, councilors, or high priests.
The lessons He gave to that woman have been repeated to the earth's
remotest bounds.

As soon as she had found the Saviour the Samaritan woman brought
others to Him. She proved herself a more effective missionary than His
own disciples. The disciples saw nothing in Samaria to indicate that it
was an encouraging field. Their thoughts were fixed upon a great work
to be done in the future. They did not see that right around them was a
harvest to be gathered. But through the woman whom they despised,
a whole cityful were brought to hear the Saviour. She carried the light
at once to her countrymen.

This woman represents the working of a practical faith in Christ.
Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary.
He who drinks of the living water becomes a fountain of life. The
receiver becomes a giver. The grace of Christ in the soul is like a spring
in the desert, welling up to refresh all, and making those who are ready
to perish eager to drink of the water of life.